Calpocalyx brevibracteatus (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Cereal / pulse
Medicinal
Timber

Calpocalyx brevibracteatus Harms

Protologue: Bull. Soc. Bot. France 58, mém. 8: 155 (1912).

Family: Mimosaceae (Leguminosae - Mimosoideae)

Origin and geographic distribution

Calpocalyx brevibracteatus occurs from Sierra Leone to Cameroon.

Uses

The wood is locally used in house building, e.g. for posts and planks, for tool handles and canoes, and as firewood. The bark is used in traditional medicine; a maceration is applied as a mouthwash to treat sores, and the inner bark is used against stomach-ache. Ash of burnt pods is used in soap-making or as salt. The seeds are edible after cooking.

Properties

The heartwood is dark brown, often variegated with red and black, and distinctly demarcated from the greyish sapwood. The grain is irregular, texture moderately coarse. The wood is heavy, with a density of about 830 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content, and hard. At 12% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is about 135 N/mm², modulus of elasticity 16,650 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 59 N/mm² and Janka side hardness 11,365 N. The wood is difficult to work, but attractive when properly finished. It is durable. The firewood quality is inferior; the wood crackles when burnt.

The leaves and bark contain tannins.

Description

• Medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 30(–40) m tall, but usually smaller; bole straight, cylindrical, up to 50(–80) cm in diameter, without buttresses or with short buttresses; bark grey to dark brown; crown dense, rounded.
• Leaves alternate, bipinnately compound with a single pair of pinnae; stipules linear, caducous; petiole short, with large gland at apex on upper side; axes of pinnae 15–20 cm long; leaflets in 5–6 pairs per pinna, opposite, elliptical, 7–15 cm × 2–6 cm, acuminate, leathery, glabrous.
• Inflorescence an axillary or terminal pendent spike 6–10 cm long, arranged in panicles, many-flowered; bracts very small.
• Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, small, sessile, hairy; calyx campanulate, c. 2 mm long, shortly toothed; petals fused at base, c. 4 mm long, pinkish to brownish orange; stamens 10, fused at base, much longer than petals, with glands at apex; ovary superior, slightly stalked, hairy, 1-celled, style long and slender.
• Fruit an obliquely oblong pod up to 17 cm × 4.5 cm, strongly flattened, long-attenuate at base, rounded at apex, woody, 2-valved, 5–10-seeded.
• Seeds angular, flattened.
• Seedling with epigeal germination; hypocotyl 4–5 cm long, finely reddish-hairy, epicotyl 3–4 cm long; cotyledons thick, fleshy, oblong, notched, purplish.

Other botanical information

Calpocalyx comprises 11 species and is restricted to the more humid forest types of West and western Central Africa. It is related to Xylia , which differs in its head-like inflorescences. In western Central Africa 9 species occur, in West Africa 2.

Calpocalyx aubrevillei

Calpocalyx aubrevillei Pellegr. occurs from Sierra Leone to Côte d’Ivoire, and is locally common in evergreen forest on moist soils and along watercourses, especially in Liberia. Its wood is used for construction, planks and canoes, but it is much lighter in weight, not durable and liable to warping. Ash from the wood is used for vegetable salt, the seeds are edible after cooking, and a relieving salve is made from pounded seeds in palm oil to treat women’s aching breasts. Calpocalyx aubrevillei is a fairly large tree up to 32 m tall, which differs from Calpocalyx brevibracteatus in its usually larger leaflets, which are more conspicuously veined and shortly hairy, and in its larger bracts, cylindrical calyx and larger pods.

The branches of Calpocalyx brevibracteatus are hollow and may be inhabited by ants. The fruits dehisce explosively during the dry season, shattering the seeds. In Sierra Leone flowering is in September–December, and fruiting in January–April.

Ecology

Calpocalyx brevibracteatus usually occurs in evergreen forest, sometimes in semi-deciduous forest and gallery forest. The occurrence reaches a maximum in areas with about 2500 mm/year of rainfall. Calpocalyx brevibracteatus is a fairly common understorey tree, especially in Liberia and Ghana. It can be found on sandy-loamy, sandy-clayey and lateritic soils.

Management

Natural regeneration occurs often gregariously in the shade, but in evergreen forest in relatively exposed localities. One kg contains approximately 3000 seeds. The seed has a high germination rate, and germination starts after 6–15 days. Freshly felled logs sink in water and cannot be transported by floating down a river.

Genetic resources

Calpocalyx brevibracteatus is widespread and locally common, and not under threat of genetic erosion.

Prospects

Calpocalyx brevibracteatus trees are often of too small size to be of commercial importance as a timber, the boles often being short and not reaching the minimum diameter limit allowed for logging. They will remain of some importance for local house building because of the durability of the wood.

Major references

• Burkill, H.M., 1995. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 3, Families J–L. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 857 pp.

• Cooper, G.P. & Record, S.J., 1931. The evergreen forests of Liberia. School of Forestry, Yale University, Bulletin 31, New Haven, United States. 153 pp.

• Holmgren, M., Poorter, L., Siepel, A., Bongers, F., Buitelaar, M., Chatelain, C., Gautier, L., Hawthorne, W.D., Helmink, A.T.F., Jongkind, C.C.H., Os-Breijer, H.J., Wieringa, J.J. & van Zoest, A.R., 2004. Ecological profiles of rare and endemic species. In: Poorter, L., Bongers, F., Kouamé, F.N’. & Hawthorne, W.D. (Editors). Biodiversity of West African forests. An ecological atlas of woody plant species. CAB International, Wallingford, United Kingdom. pp. 101–389.

• Villiers, J.-F., 1984. Le genre Calpocalyx (Leguminosae, Mimosoideae) en Afrique. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 4e série, section B, Adansonia 6(3): 297–311.

• Voorhoeve, A.G., 1965. Liberian high forest trees. A systematic botanical study of the 75 most important or frequent high forest trees, with reference to numerous related species. Pudoc, Wageningen, Netherlands. 416 pp.

Other references

• Bouquet, A. & Debray, M., 1974. Plantes médicinales de la Côte d’Ivoire. Travaux et Documents No 32. ORSTOM, Paris, France. 231 pp.

• Busson, F., 1965. Plantes alimentaires de l’ouest Africain: étude botanique, biologique et chimique. Leconte, Marseille, France. 568 pp.

• de la Mensbruge, G., 1966. La germination et les plantules des essences arborées de la forêt dense humide de la Côte d’Ivoire. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 389 pp.

• Irvine, F.R., 1961. Woody plants of Ghana, with special reference to their uses. Oxford University Press, London, United Kingdom. 868 pp.

• Keay, R.W.J., 1958. Mimosaceae. In: Keay, R.W.J. (Editor). Flora of West Tropical Africa. Volume 1, part 2. 2nd Edition. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. pp. 484–504.

• Kryn, J.M. & Fobes, E.W., 1959. The woods of Liberia. Report 2159. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, United States. 147 pp.

• Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine: a dictionary of plant use and applications. Medpharm Scientific, Stuttgart, Germany. 589 pp.

• Normand, D., 1960. Atlas des bois de la Côte d’Ivoire. Tome 3. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 182 pp.

• Savill, P.S. & Fox, J.E.D., 1967. Trees of Sierra Leone. Forest Department, Freetown, Sierra Leone. 316 pp.

• Takahashi, A., 1978. Compilation of data on the mechanical properties of foreign woods (part 3) Africa. Shimane University, Matsue, Japan, 248 pp.

Author(s)

• R.H.M.J. Lemmens, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 2006. Calpocalyx brevibracteatus Harms. In: Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. Accessed 31 March 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.